10/10/2026 – 15:00 – Lecture by Mr Thomas Coomans de Brachène – ‘The Gothic choir of Saint Gudula in the 13th century: the birth of the idea of a cathedral in Brussels’

Saturday 10/10/2026 (bilingual Fr/Nl)

Speaker: Mr Thomas Coomans de Brachène

Art historian and archaeologist, specialising in the history of religious architecture, architectural archaeology, conservation of built heritage, and architectural transfers between Europe and China. Professor at KU Leuven and director of the Raymond Lemaire International Centre for Conservation.

Title: ‘The Gothic choir of Saint Gudula in the 13th century: the birth of the idea of a cathedral in Brussels’.

Begun in 1226, the Gothic choir of St Gudula introduced a new style of architecture, breaking with that of the Romanesque collegiate church, whose sanctuary built above a crypt was replaced by a sanctuary without a crypt but with an ambulatory and radiating chapels. Unprecedented in the Duchy of Brabant, this architectural choice not only signified a significant spatial and liturgical change, but was also linked to the first generation of Gothic cathedral choirs in northern France. Through its layout, elevation, structure and formal vocabulary, the new choir of St Gudula clearly expresses the ambition of the chapter and the duke to erect a cathedral-style church in Brussels. This allows us to hypothesise that there was a plan to create a Brabant diocese at a time when the dioceses of Cambrai and Liège shared the territory of the Duchy of Brabant and the dukes were beginning to consider transferring their capital from Leuven to Brussels.

Free admission